Fairy Tail's Worst Kept Secret
by FayeValentine00
Summary: Natsu and Lucy's relationship was the worst kept secret in all of Fairy Tail. Basically, the only two people in all of Fiore who didn't know about the relationship were Natsu and Lucy themselves. *** This fic is a portion of the larger fic - The Future Is Ours ***


Fairy Tail's Worst Kept Secret

By: juvia0613 (FayeValentine00)

* * *

Natsu and Lucy's relationship was the worst kept secret in all of Fairy Tail. Basically, the only two people in all of Fiore who didn't know about the relationship were Natsu and Lucy themselves. Nearly everyone in the guild had seen the writing on the wall nearly from the start. The duo was practically inseparable, yet their relationship never seemed to get over the hump from best friends to lovers which made it a hot topic of gossip throughout the guild.

Although Lucy had practically confessed to Natsu, the morning they left for their 100 Year Quest and Natsu had replied by saying they would be together forever, nothing further was said on the issue and things proceeded as they always had. Throughout the first few weeks of the mission, the relationship had also become a surprisingly popular topic between Gray and Erza. It was painful to watch the couple continually get close to a breakthrough and then pull back just before the critical moment. Finally, the two devised a plan and set out to give them the chance to move forward.

Making up some lame excuse about how Erza thought there might be an information contact in some random village, Erza and Gray convinced Natsu and Lucy to go look into said town by themselves. Somehow, they also convinced both Happy and Natsu that Happy needed to stay with the main group in case they needed to make a quick escape. Miraculously, their plan worked.

On a cool day about six months after they'd departed from Fairy Tail, Natsu and Lucy wandered around town looking for a contact that didn't exist. Finally, as the sun began to set, the duo found a place to stay for the night. There was only one room available so, like they'd done many times before, they shared. They relaxed, ate dinner, chatted about nothing important and laughed at some silly old memories before Lucy couldn't resist teasing Natsu.

"I hope you can sleep well tonight, Natsu." Her grin was like the Cheshire cat.

She watched with amusement as confusion played across his features until he finally gave the answer she'd been hoping for. With a hint of a frown he asked, "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well… Who are you going to cuddle with? I would hate for you to get lonely without Happy here," she grinned deviously with a glint of sadistic pleasure in her eyes.

"Pfft!" Natsu scoffed loudly and his own smirk spread. "What are you talking about? I have you, right?"

With those words, he pounced on Lucy with a laugh, but he hadn't expected was to catch her off guard. They tumbled off the couch and onto the floor with a thud. When they finally got their bearings, Lucy was lying face up on the floor while Natsu straddled her, pinning the Celestial Spirit mage to the floor. Their faces were dangerously close. Their eyes met for a long moment before both blushed deeply and quickly adverted their eyes.

"S-Sorry," Natsu finally said and began to pull away.

Without thinking, Lucy reached out and caught his scarf, holding him into place. She wasn't even certain what came over her or why she had done it but somehow, she knew that if she didn't take advantage of the moment, it would be gone forever. "W-Wait," her voice was a low whisper.

"Lucy?" The quiet questioning in Natsu's voice made her stomach do a flip and when their eyes met again, she was positive she was bright red, yet she did not let go. "What are you doing?"

Before she could lose her nerve and without saying a word, she reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him closer. When their lips finally met, it was soft and hesitant, but it was also sweet. It was the one thing she didn't even truly realize she'd wanted all this time. Yet, as suddenly as it began, it ended and Lucy released Natsu's neck, eyeing him cautiously.

"Lu-cy…" For a long moment his face only registered shock but finally, after what felt like an eternity, his face slowly transformed into a grin, the gleam in his eyes growing hungry. Saying nothing further, this time he came to her and pressed his lips firmly to hers. They replaced any sweetness this kiss lacked with need and desire and the emotion caused by so many years holding back from one and other.

Within moments they were lost in each other's arms. Their breathing between kisses coming out in moans and sighs and before long neither knew which was way up. In that moment, the world around them fell away and for once it was just the two of them together as one like it always should have been.

When they returned to the others the next day, one look at their faces told Gray and Erza that their plan had been a success, yet no one said a word about it. Even Wendy picked up on it their relationship and joined the gossip fold. The relationship between Natsu and Lucy went on in secret for nearly six months before it openly became common knowledge.

It was barely sunlight that morning when Gray woke up in their campsite, the fire from the night before nothing more than embers. It only took the Ice Devil Slayer a second to realize that two of their group were missing and he couldn't help but laugh to himself. Those two had slowly been getting bolder in their actions. Until that morning, they had all played dumb, but this was too sweet a chance to miss. He could finally catch them in the act, so to speak.

As quietly as possible, Gray lay back down on his bedding, pretending to be a sleep but waiting patiently for the moment that his friends returned from their excursion. A short while later, his patience was rewarded when the two returned to camp, giggling about something while trying to stay quiet at the same time. He would not lie, hearing them like that made him miss Juvia more than he wanted to admit but he pushed those feelings away for the time being and made his move.

Watching from the corner of his eye, he waited until Natsu leaned over to give Lucy one last kiss. When he did, Gray sat up and looked directly at them with an evil smirk on his face. "So… were you ever going to tell us about this?"

"You took the words right out of my mouth," a voice beside him seconded and only then did he realize that Erza was awake and up too.

Natsu and Lucy turned beet red and looked like kids caught with their hand in the candy jar yet, to Gray's surprise, they didn't jump away from each other. After the couple exchanged a knowing look, Lucy smiled apologetically and spoke brightly. "Sorry. We were going to tell you but I thought it might make things awkward…"

"So, you thought sneaking off every night was less awkward?" Erza scoffed playfully, leading the couple to blush again.

"That obvious, huh?" Natsu finally spoke nervously.

"Definitely." This time it was Wendy who sat up, chiming in. "It was definitely obvious."

With that last confirmation, everyone laughed. The tension broke and, as their travels continued, there was a lot less sneaking around. Natsu and Lucy grew closer together and before long it was as if they had always been lovers.

The next evolution in the Natsu and Lucy relationship came nearly a year and a half later, about two-and-a-half years after leaving for their quest. Things had been progressing fairly rapidly in the past few months and they were following one lead after another trying to track down the people they needed to speak with. As the days wore on during that time, Lucy felt irritable and found herself getting tired far quicker than she was used to. She knew something was off but pushed the feelings aside and tried to hide it from the others since she didn't want to hold them back. Frequently Wendy had asked her if she was okay but every time Lucy assured the Dragon Slayer that she was fine.

After a few weeks of that, Lucy woke up feeling awful. Thankfully, no one else was awake, so she could sneak off into the woods to be sick in private. She literally felt like everything she had ever eaten came back up in one foul swoop. There was no holding it back. She didn't even know anyone else was there with her until she felt hands pull her hair away from her face before they rubbed her back softly. When Lucy got everything out and could finally sit back, she looked over to see Wendy beside her looking concerned. "Thank you, Wendy."

There was a long silence between them as the girls' eyes met. Lucy had figured out what was wrong with her about a week earlier. Judging from the look in the Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes, she knew that Wendy knew too. "Are you ok?" Wendy finally asked softly.

"Yes. … No. … Honestly, I don't even know…" Lucy finally answered, diverting her eyes to look up at the sky. She knew that her current condition would change everything and, although in many ways it was exciting, it would also affect their friends and she felt a genuine sense of guilt over that.

"Have you told Natsu?" Wendy asked softly, cutting right to the heart of the matter.

With eyes still focused on the sky, Lucy shook her head. "I know that I have to… I know that I need to… Yet… I don't want to be a burden." With her biggest fear put into words, Lucy felt silent tears roll down her cheeks and before long, she felt Wendy's arms wrap around her shoulders, holding her tightly.

"No one will think you are a burden, Lucy. This is a good thing, right? Everyone will be happy."

Hearing the words she most needed in that moment, Lucy looked back down at the younger girl before her and smiled despite her tears. And before she could say anything, Wendy looked her straight in the eyes and added, "Especially Natsu."

That afternoon Wendy made excuses to get the others out of the way, leaving Lucy free to give Natsu the news. A series of emotions played out on his face when she told him the truth point blank. After what felt like an eternity to the woman waiting for a reply, Natsu smiled brightly and grabbed her tightly by the arms looking her straight in the eyes.

"I'm gonna be a dad?" The unbridled excitement in his voice swept away any lingering doubts Lucy felt, and the relief led to a new wave of tears all over again.

"Yeah," she answered with a smile, not even bothering to wipe her face.

The next moment Lucy was snatched into a massive bear hug. Natsu crushed her so tightly that she could hardly breathe, but she didn't even care. That moment was the beginning of their family. Although the future was a bit scary, their mutual happiness made anything, and everything seem possible.

That night, Natsu and Lucy told everyone else the news. Natsu could not get the stupid smile off his face. Although Gray and Erza were surprised, they quickly congratulated the expectant parents with hugs and smiles. However, as soon as that was over, Gray said what everyone else was thinking.

"We should head home now." His tone was a matter of fact.

"But the mission…" Lucy began. She had known that this would probably happen when the truth came out, but she still couldn't help feeling guilty. By leaving the job unfinished, it felt like all of their hard work was for nothing. It was Erza who took Lucy's hand and shook her head.

"It's fine, Lucy. This is more important," her smile completely sincere as she spoke. "Besides, we have good information to share. It will be enough to get us a good reward from whoever takes the job next."

And with that, the 100 Year Quest ended after two-and-a-half years.


End file.
